


Panic! At the Disco

by paintedbluerose



Series: Whumptober [18]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Panic Attacks, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Zuko (Avatar) whump, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko panic, Zuko’s Scar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedbluerose/pseuds/paintedbluerose
Summary: Training with Aang was fine until Zuko saw flames.(Panic attack and Zuko’s scar)Day 18 of Whumptober theme: Panic! At the discoPrompt: panic attacks, phobia, paranoia
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Series: Whumptober [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950010
Comments: 6
Kudos: 273





	Panic! At the Disco

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to have a little panic attack for Zuko which kind of leads to the scar reveal, but not much because I don’t want to focus on it. 
> 
> Hopefully I have Zuko’s panic attack right. I had one that wasn’t really one so I’m not sure if it’s right or not. (I had the symptoms of a panic attack but felt fine. Sometimes one of my illnesses makes my body do stupid stuff like that.)

Zuko should have seen it coming. Aang was excited to learn firebending. Aang liked to show off for his friends. Not that Zuko minded at all. Zuko encouraged Aang to practice more, to use his firebending more.

But Zuko wasn’t paying attention when Aang was showing off. He didn’t notice Aang coming at his left side (his bad side). He was focused on the rest of the group and food. It wasn’t until he felt heat from flames close to him did he look up.

Flames were coming towards him. Fire was heading to his face. His face! Fire! Not again!

“No!”

Zuko put his arms up in anticipation of the flames. He backed away as far as he could until he felt something solid. His heart was racing and he felt himself back in the arena with his father. His father, who was so very disappointed in him, who wouldn’t hesitate to burn him. Again.

He was going to die. Burned to death.

“Please no.”

He couldn’t breathe. His chest was hurting so much. Why couldn’t he breathe?

He could smell burning flesh around him and it made him gag. He didn’t feel any burns on him. That didn’t mean anything though. He could be burning and not notice.

He could hear voices around him but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Was it his father? Was he saying how disappointed he was? Was he saying how worthless Zuko was? He couldn’t breathe.

Hands were around him and he screamed. Don’t touch! Touch means fire! Don’t move! Father wouldn’t want him to move. Father would want him to stay still and be burned.

“No, please no, please.” He begged. He could feel the tears falling from his eyes. His father would be so disappointed in him for crying. Don’t cry. Just breathe. Don’t panic.

~~~~

Sokka was perfectly fine eating and watching Aang play around with his firebending. As long as it was far away from Sokka. It wasn’t until Aang tried a move and flames were heading to Zuko did Sokka worry. Zuko didn’t seem to notice the flames until they were right there. Instead of blocking them, he screamed out, put his hands up to block the flames, and backed himself into the wall.

In the instant it took Zuko to back away, a rock wall was sent up to block the fire.

“Sparky!” Toph screamed.

Zuko slid down to the ground, hands still over his face. “Please no.”

What was wrong with him?

“His heart is going crazy!” Toph said. “What happened?”

“Aang threw fire. It was near Zuko.” As soon as Sokka said it, he realized what was wrong. “Oh. The fire came close to Zuko. To his face. Where his scar is.”

“He’s having a panic attack.” Haru spoke up. “One of the men in my village used to get them often.” Haru walked over to where Zuko was. “Zuko, you need to breathe.” He put his hands on Zuko which seemed to make things worse.

“No, please no, please...” Zuko muttered.

“Way to go Mustache.” Toph pulled Haru away from Zuko. “Maybe let’s not touch the panicked firebender?”

“Sorry.”

“So what can we do? We can’t touch him. It doesn’t seem like he’s listening to us. If we can’t get to him, how can we stop his panic attack?”

“I can airbend air for him to breathe.” Aang suggested.

“No offense Twinkle Toes, but I don’t think that’ll help.”

Sokka watched in horror as The Duke went up to Zuko. “Zuko?” He whispered, placing a small hand on Zuko’s right shoulder. “Zuko? Are you okay?”

Sokka was terrified what Zuko would do to The Duke. Nothing happened though.

“Zuko?” The Duke repeated his name, his hand still on Zuko’s shoulder. He started rubbing circles on Zuko’s shoulder. “Please be okay.”

After a few minutes, The Duke started to move his hand away but Zuko grabbed it. “Thank you.”

“Zuko! You’re back!” Aang exclaimed, running over to give Zuko a hug. “I’m so sorry about that. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s okay Aang. I’m okay now.” Zuko mumbled.

~~~~

Lunch was rather quiet after Zuko’s panic attack. The Duke sat right next to Zuko. He didn’t mind it this time. The Duke grounded Zuko. He was afraid if the boy left, he would go back to panicking.

Zuko knew he would have to say something. If he looked up, he was afraid he would see everyone staring at him, waiting to get answers.

“Sorry. Everyone. Sorry about... about earlier.” He still refused to look up.

“Sorry? Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong Sparky.”

“I had a panic attack. I shouldn’t have-“

“No.” Sokka interrupted. “You had a panic attack. There’s nothing to be sorry about. You did nothing wrong. You don’t owe us anything.”

“But-“

“Sokka’s right. There’s nothing wrong with panicking. If anyone told you otherwise, they’re wrong.” Aang said, looking wise beyond his years.

“If there’s something we can do to help when you’re like that, let us know. Or a way to prevent one.” Katara added.

“I don’t see out of my left as well so I didn’t notice the fire was coming. It...” Zuko took a deep breath before continuing. “It reminded me of when I got my scar. I felt like I was back there. With my father.”

“Your father? Wait! Your father burned you?!” Sokka exclaimed.

“Yeah...I thought you knew? I thought everyone knew.” Zuko looked around and saw them shake their heads and a few “no”s being said. “None of you know? But...people were there! They talked about it! It’s been years!”

“What?! Years?! Sparky, what happened?”

“Three years ago. I spoke out a war meeting. I was right. My father didn’t like it. I had to fight an Agni Kai, fire duel. I thought it was against the general I spoke against. It wasn’t. It was my father. I begged for forgiveness. He put his hand on my cheek and I thought he was forgiving me. He held me down and was burning me and I couldn’t move. I passed out some time while he was burning me.” Zuko shrugged. “I woke up already on a ship and was told I was banished.”

“Your father is horrible!”

“I know that now!” Zuko rolled his eyes.

“Now? Sparky, you mean you didn’t think he was wrong?”

“I... I thought he was right. I thought I deserved it. He made me think I deserved nothing good.” Zuko curled into himself. “I was afraid to go against him.”

“You don’t feel that way now do you?” Aang asked.

“No.” Zuko said, though it wasn’t completely honest. Sometimes he still felt his father was right. He still heard his father telling him how much of a disappointment he was. It was getting better. Being with friends, people who cared for him, helped him. 


End file.
